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Hall of Fame game on NBC. Thus begins the hype and hoopla of the NFL season. Dallas vs Az and the only thing noteworthy of the recent weeks was that of all the players involved in felony type activities, Dallas cut a player that was ultimately absolved of being anywhere near the scene of what he was accused of. But he wasn't much of a player apparently. Being an all star RB will get you a lot of slack for Jerry though.

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First day of camp and Tannehill goes out with a knee injury, perhaps for the year. Talking about signing Cutler or Kap. What? What have I done to deserve such karma? is it the boobie pics? If so, too bad; I've been a fan of boobs longer than I've been a Dolphins fan, though the reasons for the appreciation have changed over the years.

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Cutler and Gase have been player/coach together before, that could work. Unlike some of Chicago fans, I liked Cutler. Tough guy, great arm....occasional misjudgements on a pass but much of that had to do with playing from behind and trying to push a pass in too tight. He also had a different coach and/or offensive coordinator every other year. Has a couple real bad offensive lines....so bad he got sacked like 55 times one season. Still holds just about every QB record for the Bears. You could do worse.

Kap? He had a great season....really great.......one year and looked like shit for a while. I don't follow the 9ers so I have no idea what mitigating issues there might have been.

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Kenny Easley was so much fun to watch. As pointed out above. He was a hitter before that was a thing. Glad to see him getting his respect. The 'Fins are going to be hurting if they bring in Kapernick. Cutler is the better choice. The guy that looked scary good last night was Blaine Gabbert, back up for the Cardinals. Impressive command of the offense. For a guy who has bounced around a lot, he looked very, very good.

WL

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Kenny Easley was so much fun to watch. As pointed out above. He was a hitter before that was a thing. Glad to see him getting his respect. The 'Fins are going to be hurting if they bring in Kapernick. Cutler is the better choice. The guy that looked scary good last night was Blaine Gabbert, back up for the Cardinals. Impressive command of the offense. For a guy who has bounced around a lot, he looked very, very good.

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Kenny Easley was so much fun to watch. As pointed out above. He was a hitter before that was a thing. Glad to see him getting his respect. The 'Fins are going to be hurting if they bring in Kapernick. Cutler is the better choice. The guy that looked scary good last night was Blaine Gabbert, back up for the Cardinals. Impressive command of the offense. For a guy who has bounced around a lot, he looked very, very good.

WL

He looked good but was up against the most disorganized defense in football. Hope the pokes figure that out soon.

Yeah, he said something about the Cuban health care system and the education system. Those are two of the bright spots in the Castro regime, so mentioning them in Miami is verboten. On the other hand, when the kneeling during the anthem was all the rage, the Dolphins' owner was one of the few who told the players that they could make whatever statement they wanted. It lasted for a game or two, if memory serves, and a couple of players did it.

Word is that Cutler wants starters money, and they don't even know that they need him yet. Now talking Kap or RG3. So it is with my football life. One of my two teams will forever try to replace Marino, and the other will forever try to replace Tebow.

Re Easley, a well-deserved entrance into the HOF, along with Jason Taylor, and undersized defensive end from a small school who played like a wild man for the first play of his career and the last play of his career, and every single one in between. But Easley, that SOB. I was in a rocking Orange Bowl in 83 for a divisional playoff game against the heavy underdog Seahawks, including Easley, when they came back to win in the last couple of minutes. I did not talk for a week. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't. It took more than that for my voice to come back. Second best Dolphins loss I ever saw.

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I find it interesting, in that they have kept Matt Moore around as a pretty expensive backup for several years, but still looked outside for help. That battle will be fun to watch in camp. The line was hot and cold last year, with more than their share of injuries, depending on whether the center's hip was healthy. Gase has instilled a different mindset, it seems; one that makes no excuses for those injuries. He's good.

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I find it interesting, in that they have kept Matt Moore around as a pretty expensive backup for several years, but still looked outside for help. That battle will be fun to watch in camp. The line was hot and cold last year, with more than their share of injuries, depending on whether the center's hip was healthy. Gase has instilled a different mindset, it seems; one that makes no excuses for those injuries. He's good.

We were very sorry to lose him to the head coach job there. I think he has the potential to be a HOF coach someday.

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This one made me laugh. I just read that the Dolphins briefly considered Tim Tebow, before signing Cutler. Of course, Tebow is excelling as a member of the St. Lucie Mets. He is cranking out homers and the team has set attendance records this year. I'm a fan of both, but if the Dolphins had signed Tebow I would have hit the roof.

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This one made me laugh. I just read that the Dolphins briefly considered Tim Tebow, before signing Cutler. Of course, Tebow is excelling as a member of the St. Lucie Mets. He is cranking out homers and the team has set attendance records this year. I'm a fan of both, but if the Dolphins had signed Tebow I would have hit the roof.

You know..........he is a heck of an athlete and a big dude.. If they signed him as say......tight end, or fullback......he might do well. Even OLB could perhaps work. But we already know what kind of QB he is.........I wondered why he never agreed to play a different position in the NFL. I seem to recall one of the teams sorta offered him a look in another capacity but he said no he would only play QB. So now he is spanking baseballs in the minor leagues.............

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You know..........he is a heck of an athlete and a big dude.. If they signed him as say......tight end, or fullback......he might do well. Even OLB could perhaps work. But we already know what kind of QB he is.........I wondered why he never agreed to play a different position in the NFL. I seem to recall one of the teams sorta offered him a look in another capacity but he said no he would only play QB. So now he is spanking baseballs in the minor leagues.............

Dumb ass.

He's doing his thing. I'm biased, due to his college years, but he walks the walk in real life with his missionary work. Doing stuff for others is a currency that buys a lot of goodwill. He doesn't thump his chest and flap his gums about it, he just does it. If he wants to swing a bat, so be it. He won't get the stuffing knocked out of him as often, and be left to live his golden years drooling and in pain.

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Chargers a tough read right now. Talents there but not sure about depth. Top two draft picks are PUP and ACL surgery-bound. The O-line settles (big Question #1), K. Allen makes it thru a full season, D-line kicks ass like they should and....in toughest Conf in league...they go 9-7.

Home game prices skyrocketing. Good seats for Seattle preseason next week start at $170.

Still plenty weird driving by and seeing NFL team working out. Mater Dei's run as top program in OC is done.

They should try and bribe the Bengals to give up A.J. McCarron. He's starter caliber and stuck behind Andy Dalton. He carried the team to the playoffs the last quarter of the season when Dalton was injured, and even had the Squealers on the ropes in the wild card game until the defense gave it away.

He's itchy to get traded, though I think he's still making the polite noises for team unity.

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They should try and bribe the Bengals to give up A.J. McCarron. He's starter caliber and stuck behind Andy Dalton. He carried the team to the playoffs the last quarter of the season when Dalton was injured, and even had the Squealers on the ropes in the wild card game until the defense gave it away.

He's itchy to get traded, though I think he's still making the polite noises for team unity.

It sounds like Cutler was the guy from the moment Tannehill got hurt. They say that the top brass is really happy to have gotten him, (giddy) which makes me wonder how much faith the new coaching staff has in Tannehill.

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I am curious to see how the media cover the protest at NFL HQ tomorrow. Several groups are planning to protest for Kaepernick to get a job in the NFL. Spike Lee and Stephen A. Smith have been just a few to call out the NFL over this. One of the groups is a civil rights group. I am not sure how not getting a job because you suck is a civil rights thing. But, Oh Well.

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I am curious to see how the media cover the protest at NFL HQ tomorrow. Several groups are planning to protest for Kaepernick to get a job in the NFL. Spike Lee and Stephen A. Smith have been just a few to call out the NFL over this. One of the groups is a civil rights group. I am not sure how not getting a job because you suck is a civil rights thing. But, Oh Well.

WL

I cracked up when I saw his supporters misspelled his name in the call for action........oh....there's an "e" in it?

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I cracked up when I saw his supporters misspelled his name in the call for action........oh....there's an "e" in it?

This was by far one of the best stories to come out of the whole Kaepernick fiasco!

He won't be signed because wherever he goes, he'll split the locker room, the fanbase, and damn near the entire city in two. Politics need to be left out of sports it's getting ridiculous. Although apparently he did get a reasonable offer but turned it down because it was "backup money" and he considers himself above that

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Titans are gonna be the team to keep an eye out for this year. I hate to say that as a Texans fan but they've been doing all the right things for the past few seasons and it's only so long before they blow up. it's gonna be tough for anyone in the AFC to get past the pats this year though

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Da Bears kick off their preseason tonight at 4 on NFL network. Playing the Bronco's. The first 10 minutes should tell us a bit. 3 other games going on. One of which is Vikes and Bills. Interesting side note for Viking fans. Your kicker who choked the "Hawks into the playoffs in '15, is our leading candidate in Camp for the open kicker spot. Hit a 65 yarder yesterday. Now if we can just get him to hit from 26 yards or so, we should be starting another player from our farm team in Minn.

Duckin and running!!

WL

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I am recording the game since I won't be home till long after kickoff, probably till after game over. You are right the 1st 10 minutes will be interesting for the Bears. I'll have to institute an information blackout beginning at 1700........

Da Bears kick off their preseason tonight at 4 on NFL network. Playing the Bronco's. The first 10 minutes should tell us a bit. 3 other games going on. One of which is Vikes and Bills. Interesting side note for Viking fans. Your kicker who choked the "Hawks into the playoffs in '15, is our leading candidate in Camp for the open kicker spot. Hit a 65 yarder yesterday. Now if we can just get him to hit from 26 yards or so, we should be starting another player from our farm team in Minn.

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There were two college QBs I liked last year (keeping in mind that I am not a Ryan Tannehill fan and remain convinced that he is not the answer).

Davis Webb, Cal - now NY Giants.

Trubisky.

Awesome talent. Not sure he is worth the trade-up, but it won't take much to make folks think it was a smart move.

Quote

Let’s not overdo it based on first-round draft pick Mitch Trubisky’s effort in the closing minutes of the second quarter and throughout the second half against a lot of players that will be ex-Broncos in the near future. Remind yourself it’s foolish to make sweeping judgments based on preseason performances, especially against second- and third-teamers.

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I don't disagree. Preseason games are structured by the coaches to look at lots of personnel and schemes. There are often plays called that are less about the game strategy and more about looking at a certain player. Still, it did show some tendencies and abilities. I think unless Glennon continues to post zero QB ratings throughout preseason, Trubisky will still be looking at no. 2 as his best hope to begin the season. However.....if Glennon does not perform and Trubisky continues to develop......we could see him start part way into the season. It's clearly still Glennons job to lose.......for now.......

Another thing I liked was the tendency toward grind it out slowly ground game opening the short passes and eventually some midrange stuff as well. That's traditional Bear football. Unfortunately, that approach seems.....to me....to land more squarely in Trubisky's skill set than Glennons. But we haven't seen much of Glennon yet.......so we'll see. Also, Trubisky does not have a lot of experiance under center seemingly more comfortable in the shotgun. He'll need to develop that skill as well. It will be interesting to watch.

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Seahawks walk away with a win in LA. Woody was right about the Chargers.

Interesting to watch how good our 2nd and 3rd string guys were compared to LA. When the starters were on the field it was pretty even. LA got a TD on opening drive and we got a FG. Rivers looked very good for LA.

I am just grateful for the season starting after being on the roller coaster that is life as a Mariners fan.

WL

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TV coverage didn't show the National Anthem but it turns out one of my favorite players is no longer one of my favorites. Michael Bennett has always been a fun player to watch. High motor and an articulate interview. But he decided to sit for the Anthem yesterday and plans to continue to sit for the remainder of the season.

I find myself disappointed because when he was interviewed he could not clearly articulate his reason in any way other than to mumble about Charlestown and the problems this Country is facing. While I agree with him, I disagree with his method. He is constantly sought out by reporters after every game. He has a great platform already to speak to the issue on a weekly basis.

The Browns have stunned the football world with 2 wins in preseason which is twice as many wins as they had all season last year.

The Jaguars still cant find a starting QB and may entertain Colin K.

Dallas is still acting like Elliot did nothing wrong and is just misunderstood.

My Seahawks face the Chiefs tonight for what will be the longest playing time of the preseason for the starters. Rees Odhiambo is one to watch at left tackle replacing Fant. Rookie RB Carson could upset the apple cart for the starting RB position.

Who's got what on your teams? Or do ya all just not like the NFL? (not that I would blame ya)

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Heard about this.... I mean.... I do enjoy their food, except on SUNDAY !

Poutine!?!? What's next, Canadian Football?

It’s great news for Chick-fil-A employees who want to watch the Falcons on Sunday, and horrible for anyone else seeing the Falcons on Sunday. It’s good news for college fans and MLS fans though, who will get all the chicken they can eat on their game days.

The Mercedes-Benz stadium concessions list notes that on Sundays, Chick-fil-A is replaced by “Fries Up,” which was a hashtag Chick-fil-A coined during the Falcons playoff run in 2017, but despite the link there won’t be any chicken at the restaurant.

Alison Blue, media relations for the AMB Group, tells SB Nation.com what the restaurant will be on Sundays.

“This stand will become a custom concept called “Fries Up” on Sundays when we have games and “Fries Up” is operated by us in partnership with Levy, our concessions partner in the stadium. The menu items take a southern spin on classic poutine fries and are intended to be shareable items with unique packaging designed for portability.”

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Coliseum half empty and CBS pimping the "Battle for LA" ad nauseum. Watched a half and then ran out of chips and salsa so I was done.. shitty game after Rivers left.

Chargers first team D shredded the Ram scrubs. No surprise there. Goff sucks, Mannion can move the Ram's O. Goff will be on bench prolly before season opener as McVay has no ties to that wahole fiasco. Loss of Donald is mindboggling for Rams. Best player sitting it out? Owned by Rams for another 4 years (contract + Franchise tag keeps him another two) and his people tell him to sit? Messed up - as are Rams in general.

Bolts should go as far as Rivers can take them. His skills are stilll impressive and keep the o-line healthy and they go 9-7 in a very tough division. Same old story for Bolts.

Not sure that Kap's stance is as pure as the great men of history that he is compared to. He has done little other than taking a knee and wearing socks depicting Police Officers as pigs. In the current political climate we find ourselves in, he could be an active voice in the media calling for change. There seem to be many that support him. Yet I have heard nothing (not that I have looked very hard)

My best buddy born in Detroit and lifelong Lions fan. There is an odd and special combination of fan support and affection for the team combined with the absolute expectation they will disappoint. Kinda like how it was to be a Cubs fan my whole life.

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All I can say as a Bengals fan is...screw the NFL. If only Vontaze Burfict would just beat his wife in public or something or deflate a few balls, instead of playing old school, smashmouth football. Then we wouldn't have problems with him getting suspended for legal hits, or receiving sentences far in extreme of what other players get.

Gotta make an example of him, I suppose. So bumping a receiver w/in five yards of the LoS isn't a suspending offense, unless your name rhymes with "Montays Murfict."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's a thug, he's a goon, he should in a house fire and all that other shit we hear from haters around the NFL. I've watched the guy play a lot; he's 110% energized on field and nigh unstoppable, and he's knocked off the shit he did in the first couple of seasons. Doesn't matter though.

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On a more humorous note, I read this interview with Geno Atkins. He rarely talks to the press, and for all his scary talent on the field he is a man of few words. You can can feel the reporter tearing his hair out in frustration trying to get anything out of him.

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I actually thought the officiating was worse than usual. It seemed pretty one sided. You could see many penalties going uncalled against the Patriots. Kudos to the Chiefs for coming to play in such a dominant fashion that the penalties didn't matter! Alex Smith was not his normal conservative self and it showed. That and their new RB is a freaking Stud!

Brady without Edelman is not good if you are a Pats fan (which I am definitely not)

Why I Will Boycott the NFL

Yes, yes, I know, no one will notice if I don’t attend a National Football League game this season or watch one on television. And the sky won’t fall if I refuse to read about those games in my daily sports section, listen to sports talk radio or discuss the seasonal ups and downs of the 49ers and the Raiders with my cousin or my father-in-law. Also, I know that the wallets of the fat cat NFL owners will not be thinned by my withdrawal, and the advertising revenue will continue to overfill their coffers as well as the sales of caps, jerseys and logo embossed gadgets.

I don’t care. I’m really pissed off. Colin Kaepernick is out of work for daring to speak out against police violence.

I remember when Muhammed Ali made his heroic stand again the draft and the war in Vietnam. The media heaped abuse on him, and the fat cats of the boxing world stripped him of his title. He was out of the ring for three years. Not long after, at the Olympic ceremonies in Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos had the audacity to raise their fists against racism. They were expelled from the Olympics and vilified at home. A popular magazine called them “petulant.”

Times change; kings do not.

Fifty years later, a Black quarterback decides to kneel during the national anthem in silent protest. The bozos go nuts: the nerve of that guy! Doesn’t he know this is the land of the free and the home of the brave? They burn effigies of Kaepernick outside stadiums where he is playing. They light up the talk show lines and social media, and in an erudite interpretation of the constitutional protection of free speech, their orange haired Bozo-in-Chief says, “maybe he should find a country that works better for him.”

Months pass and Kaepernick remains unemployed as mediocre quarterbacks continue to sign lucrative new contracts with the 32 teams of the NFL for the 2017 season. The team owners in their invisible white sheets and their stooge, Roger Goodell, insist to the media that Kaepernick is not being hired because he “doesn’t have the ability,” not because he dared to protest. Even the legendary quarterback Joe Montana, to his everlasting shame, provides cover for the bosses, stating in July that Kaepernick’s inability to find a job “comes down to his play as much as anything.”

Say it ain’t so, Joe.

Let’s look at some stats. Sports people love stats; we live and die on yards rushing, completions, TDs and interceptions to name a few. So let’s start with the fact that Colin Kaepernick has an 88.9 passer rating and his interception rate in the 2nd best in NFL history. Not too shabby, huh? Now, let’s look at some of the quarterbacks signed while Colin waited by the phone. Remember, boys and girls, it’s all about winning and making money with these guys, unless there’s some other issue like a Black guy stirring up a fuss.

So, here we go: Austin Davis, signed by the Seahawks, hasn’t played a game since 2015; David Olson, now working for the Ravens, was a big “star’ in the Indoor Football League (wow!); Mike Glennon, hired by the Bears, has thrown 11 passes in two years; Josh McCown, now with his eighth team, the Jets, is 2-20 over the past three years; Landry Jones of the Steelers has made two starts in each of the last two seasons, and the 49ers’ own Matt Barkly threw 14 interceptions in seven games last year and has a passer rating of 63.7.

Okay, with all this evidence related to quarterback ability, we’re talking black balling and lockout, familiar tactics by owners for those who understand the history of race and labor relations. The teams of the NFL are not unlike plantations and their owners are absolute rulers. They want to keep this system intact. They shake down cities for tax breaks and free public land. They contribute to Republicans over Democrats at a ratio of 40 to 1. They promoted a Jim Crow system for decades, keeping black athletes out of football’s marquee position, the quarterback.

Is anyone surprised that they would lockout the dissenter, Colin Kaepernick? Kaepernick is a threat to the wellbeing of the National Football League plantation system and the wealth of its fat cat owners.

Aside from the fact that we live in a society where there are still people who can’t accept the notion of a Black man taking a principled stand, there is the fact that 70 per cent of the players in the NFL are Black, as well as 50-70 per cent of college football players. The money made at the top is on the backs of the Black players. Let’s say that again: the money made at the top is on the backs of the Black players. If the Black players on the plantation rebel, the whole financial house of cards–from big buck college programs all the way to the pros–will collapse.

The next Black rebel could be protesting about concussions, that Big-Costly-NFL-Secret, so the present Kaepernick must be shut down to send an intimidating message to any future Kaepernicks who object to the system.

Just like Muhammed Ali. Just like Tommie Smith, John Carlos and other Black athletes like Paul Robeson, Jack Johnson and Bill Russell who decided speak out.

Over fifty years ago, Hollywood outdid itself in the making of “Inherit the Wind,” a film based on the notorious 1927 trial of a teacher who dared to teach Darwinism in a Tennessee school. The teacher was defended by Clarence Darrow who is called Henry Drummond in the movie. At one dramatic point during the trial, Drummond, played by Spencer Tracy, sums up the situation in a statement which I think applies today to that multi-billion dollar cultural behemoth known as the NFL :

“As long as the prerequisite for that shining paradise is ignorance, bigotry and hate, I say the hell with it.”

Don Santinais a long time, if episodic, contributor to Counterpunch. He can be reached at Lindey89@aol.com.

Historical trivia: One of the many brilliant moves Harbaugh made during his tenure as coach of the Niners was to trade the boring, pedestrian Alex Smith, who had only got them to the Super Bowl the previous year, for peanuts to clear the way for the installation of the much more talented Kaepernick as the franchise's QB "of the future".

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Historical trivia: One of the many brilliant moves Harbaugh made during his tenure as coach of the Niners was to trade the boring, pedestrian Alex Smith, who had only got them to the Super Bowl the previous year, for peanuts to clear the way for the installation of the much more talented Kaepernick as the franchise's QB "of the future".

Kap puzzles me (as he obviously did Harbuagh as well). Kid is a hell of an athlete, played - somewhat "balls out" unorthodox - like he was going to be the QB of the future, then.......meh. What happened? Supporting cast means a lot but still. Media seem to indicate he was intellectually lazy about his game prep, preferring to wing it. If true that's pretty immature and matches a number of other decisions he has made. A bit puzzling.

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I initially had no intention of writing about this topic. But I noted a disturbing haste in the conclusions about Brady’s guilt and I then read the Wells report last spring out of curiosity. What I found in it was what I had seen in so many other bogus investigations that start with a conclusion and make the “facts” fit.

My annoyance also didn’t stop with the NFL. It extended to the news media, where from The New York Times to ESPN the NFL’s case was accepted as unassailable and Brady was casually denounced as a cheater and a perjurer. Considering how much ink and time were devoted to this overblown Deflategate “scandal,” there was almost no serious examination of the actual evidence........

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Kap puzzles me (as he obviously did Harbuagh as well). Kid is a hell of an athlete, played - somewhat "balls out" unorthodox - like he was going to be the QB of the future, then.......meh. What happened? Supporting cast means a lot but still. Media seem to indicate he was intellectually lazy about his game prep, preferring to wing it. If true that's pretty immature and matches a number of other decisions he has made. A bit puzzling.